The Queensland Film Festival (QFF) has announced its full inaugural programme. From July 24 to 26, the festival will bring twelve features and two shorts that demonstrate the depth and breadth of contemporary filmmaking. Three of the feature films and one of the short films will enjoy their Australian premieres.

The festival is bringing films to Brisbane that otherwise wouldn’t get a screening in the city. With its focus on films that would be otherwise unseen, it fills part of the hole left by the departure of BIFF 2 years ago. There is also a point of difference from the new Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival (BAPFF), which screens a region-focused selection of films, some of which get a cinema release.

“We are delighted to reveal the complete lineup for this year’s QFF,” said co-director Huw Walmsley-Evans. “Strong community support, particularly from Foxtel Movies, New Farm Cinemas and the Queensland University of Technology, as well as from the city’s dedicated and passionate cinephiles, has helped make this festival happen.”

As co-director John Edmond notes, “contemporary cinema is thriving around the globe, and Queensland wants to share in it.” He continues, “we’re simply grateful to be able to showcase some of the amazing films that, at the moment, would otherwise not be screened in Brisbane.”

Abderrahmane Sissako’s TIMBUKTU opens QFF, presenting a depiction of life under jihadist rule that speaks to our troubled times. TIMBUKTU provides a perfect example of the kind of work the festival aims to highlight; although it received an Academy Award nomination (Best Foreign Language Film) in 2015, and also cleaned up at France’s Cesar Awards.

Other highlights include:

THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY (Peter Strickland) – An absolute must-see on the big screen for its inventive sound design and luscious production design.P’TIT QUINQUIN (Bruno Dumont) – An absurdest murder mystery that opens with the discovery of human body parts stuffed inside a cowJAUJA (Lisandro Alonso) – a colonialist Argentinian western starring Viggo Mortenson. The played at Cannes in 2014 in the Un Certain Regard and was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize.